Liberal Justice Elena Kagan on Friday said it would be "a good thing" if the Supreme Court adopted an ethics code of conduct in the wake of allegations that members have fallen short of required standards.
Kagan, in an appearance at Notre Dame Law school, said that signing onto a binding code would help convince the public that "we were adhering to the highest standards of conduct."
She said there is "legitimate concern" that the Supreme Court cannot just adopt the same code of conduct that lower court judges follow because of the high court's unique role at the top of the legal system but expressed confidence that those issues could be resolved.
"I hope we can make progress," she added.
Kagan refused to discuss whether any particular justices are holding up the proposal.
“I don’t want to suggest there’s like one holdout,” she added.
The Supreme Court has been under increasing scrutiny for alleged ethics lapses after a ProPublica article in April detailed Justice Clarence Thomas’ acceptance of trips from Harlan Crow, a Republican donor, which he had not disclosed in his annual financial disclosure reports. Thomas later defended his actions, saying the gifts from Crow constituted “personal hospitality,” meaning he did not have to disclose them under the judicial disclosure rules at the time. Those rules have since been updated.
Some members of Congress have proposed legislation on the issue, although the court could address the issue itself by adopting its own ethics code.
Kagan said in a public appearance last month that although an ethics code has been discussed by the justices, there is no consensus about how to move forward.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said this month that he hopes the court will take "concrete steps soon."
Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to concede in May that more needed to be done.
“I want to assure people I am committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct. We are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment,” he said at the time.
In April, the justices issued a statement saying they “reaffirm and restate” their commitment to ethics principles, an announcement that failed to quell criticism.
